Legend Quest
by Ivyvine
Summary: The Inners may have been defeated, but Earth isn't safe just yet! A rip in space-time has been opened, and Adrienne, Maddie, and Tiger are called upon once again to help prevent the doom of all worlds. Part 4 of the Spirit Series
1. Prologue

"So you say this... this tear in space-time may pose a danger to the real world?" Arceus asked. The rest of the Origin Court, which had gathered in the mental world for the first time since the three human girls' trial, waited with bated breath for Giratina's answer.

"Not just the real world, I am afraid," replied Giratina with a weary sigh. "This rip between Earth and the Torn World may well have disastrous consequences for all worlds, not just the real one. You see, there is a reason I can only hold my Origin Forme while in the Torn World. By dragging me between worlds while in that Forme, the Inners inadvertently created a tear in space-time that not even the Rulers of Space and Time themselves can heal." He nodded respectfully toward Palkia and Dialga, who looked just as bewildered and anxious as the rest of the gathered Legendary Pokémon.

The spirits of the former Heatran and Darkrai, as well as a Luvdisc, floated on either side of Giratina. The three spirits nodded in unison. _"It is vital that this rip be mended, because until then it will take much longer for Giratina to guide each spirit to the afterlife,"_ Heatran said. _"He is able to work much more quickly while in his Origin Forme, but until the rip is healed it is much too dangerous for him or anyone else to enter the Torn World."_

"_Heatran, Luvdisc, and I have agreed to postpone moving on to the next life and assist in any way we can,"_ added Darkrai.

"Human-lovers," muttered the new Darkrai with a derisive snort. Spirit-Darkrai shot him a glare, wondering why they'd replaced him with such a haughty Legendary. When a Legendary Pokémon died—which was rare, but not impossible—a part of its soul was recycled and pieced together with a new-made personality, so that the next Legendary wouldn't be quite the same as yet not completely different from its predecessor. But that certainly didn't mean New Darkrai had to be a human-hating snob.

"This is most troubling," said Arceus, shaking its head, "but what can we do? This is beyond even me to fix. There must be another way."

"ZzzzzzzI 'az a zzztheoryzzz," spoke up a voice that, as usual, grated on Spirit-Heatran's nerves. She supposed she had to give Rotom some credit for its recent work on its grammar and speech, which had once been even more atrocious. It still had a little trouble pronouncing the letter H, though.

"What is it, Rotom?" asked Arceus, looking down at the electric ghost.

"_Don't think too hard, now. It wouldn't do to hurt yourself,"_ Spirit-Heatran said under her breath. Luvdisc rolled her eyes, but Spirit-Darkrai snickered.

"Zzzzzzand what iz zo funny, Darkraizzzzz?" Rotom snapped. "ZzzzzzI waz merely going to zuggezzzt that if Dialga and Palkia can't fix the tear themzelvezzz, maybe their Matter Orbzzz could 'elp themzzzz."

There was total silence for a stretch of time that could have been seconds or hours.

"You are suggesting," said Arceus, slowly enunciating each word, "that someone go on a quest to retrieve the Matter Orb fragments from their ancient resting places?"

"Madness. Absolute madness," said New Darkrai. Around him, other Legendaries murmured their agreement.

The Matter Orbs, separately known as the Adamant Orb and the Lustrous Orb, were powerful objects that greatly enhanced the time- and space-warping abilities of Dialga and Palkia, respectively. The Orbs had been hidden away long ago, however, right after their first and only use: creating the Pokémon universe. They were thought much too unstable and dangerous for any further use. So Dialga and Palkia split each of them into fragments and hid the pieces in the real world, where no one would be able to find them and possibly piece the Orbs back together with evil intent. Dialga had flung the Adamant Orb fragments into different times throughout Earth's history, while Palkia had sent the Lustrous Orb shards scattering across the planet—and beyond.

"And even if some Legendary did agree to this ridiculous quest, where would they even begin looking?" New Darkrai went on. "Not even Dialga and Palkia themselves can say where the fragments lie hidden. And in any case, most of us have only seen Earth once or twice. We don't know the lay of the land."

"Perhaps," said Cresselia thoughtfully. A slow smile spread across her face as she added, "But we know three humans who do."

Every head turned to stare at her.

"I thought we had agreed not to involve those girls in our problems anymore," said Raikou with an uneasy twitch of its electric-blue tail.

"If this rip in space-time is as dangerous as Giratina believes it is, then it may be the girls' problem just as much as it is ours," Celebi said. "Besides, we only vowed not to bring them _here_ again. We never said anything about _us_ going _there_."

Surprised murmurs swept through the Court. Celebi was right. If they went to the three humans for help instead of drawing them into the mental world, they wouldn't technically be breaking the agreement.

"That sounds like a reasonable solution. Very well. I will send messengers to the real world," Arceus decreed.

Giratina's eyes brightened. "Good, good! But who will go?"

"Is it not obvious?" Arceus replied with a hint of a smile, then immediately called out its choices.

And so the quest to save all worlds began.


	2. Diamond, Pearl and Platinum

**Adrienne**

"So how'd you do on the test?" my friend Allison asked me.

"On Roman Life? Are you kidding? I totally aced that thing," I replied. "At least I _better_ have—I must've studied those freaking packets about a thousand times each."

The two of us were walking down the main hallway of Tasca City High, where our state's high school Latin competition was being held this year. Most of us Latin nerds had already taken our tests (there were several different subjects you could be in; I was in Roman Life), and now we could do pretty much whatever we wanted until every test got graded and ranked. That usually took around eight hours, so unless you brought a book or a Nintendo DS or whatever, there wasn't much else to do to entertain yourself.

Except sneak into the empty boys' locker room and take pictures with our cell phones, of course. Which is exactly what we planned to do.

"Greek Life was easy too," Allison said. "I hope I get first place again this year."

"You probably will," I said. Allison was actually the Greek Life study captain at our school, so it certainly wouldn't surprise anyone if she took home the blue ribbon.

We made our way toward the gym, which was practically deserted except for a few kids on the bleachers who were checking the answers to the Pentathlon test, which everyone took regardless of their subject.

"Anyone watching?" I hissed into Allison's ear as we approached the door that led to the locker room.

"I'll keep watch out here if you check to make sure no one's inside," she whispered back. We both had to suppress hysterical giggles.

Hey, I'm allowed to have fun once in a while, right?

I quickly opened the door and slipped inside. I checked the coach's office first. No one was there. Then I checked the urinals and the showers; nope, totally empty.

I was about to crack open the door and give Allison the all-clear when a sudden flash of blue light exploded from inside one of the restroom stalls, making me jump about three feet in the air with a startled yelp. "What the heck? Does someone have an extra-bright cell phone in there?" I muttered as I crept closer to the stall, trying to figure out where the light had come from.

"Hello?" I said reluctantly, half-expecting someone to jump out and scare the living heck out of me.

A weird impulse to open the stall door suddenly took hold of me. I stumbled forward and slammed it open, staring at what I found there.

Azelf stared back at me.

"What the heck are you doing here?" I hissed, happy to see the Pokémon again but anxious at the same time. Why had it come to see me? Was something wrong? It couldn't be the Inners; they'd been defeated for good not too long ago.

"I bring a message of vital importance from Arceus," Azelf told me in a grave tone. "All is not well. ..."

* * *

**Tiger**

"Huh? What d'you mean, all is not well?"

I had been just sitting there on my bed, actually doing homework for once, when Uxie had appeared, saying it had an important message from Arceus. Immediately I'd run to the door and locked it; if my mom walked in and saw Uxie, she'd probably have a heart attack.

"Well," Uxie began in its ever-thoughtful tone, "when the Inners—"

My mouth fell open. "The Inners are _back_? But I thought—"

Uxie folded its arms with an indignant frown. "At least let me finish."

"Sorry," I said meekly. "Go on."

Uxie gave a curt nod before continuing. "As I was saying, when the Inners dragged Giratina between the Torn World and Earth, they accidentally opened a rip in space-time. This rip, if left open, will permanently suck the inhabitants of Earth and all worlds connected to it—including the Pokémon world—into the Torn World. And the Torn World is a barren place, incompatible with life. It is, after all, a place of death."

I grunted. The last time I had been there, I'd seen strange ruins scattered everywhere. Something, or someone, had lived there once. Had the Torn World simply become too empty to support life?

"So... so what the heck am _I_ supposed to do about it?" I asked. "It's not like I have superpowers or anything. What do you want me to do—jump thirty feet into the sky and Superglue the rip shut?"

Uxie gave an exasperated sigh. "Hardly. But there _is_ something you can do to help us. ..."

* * *

**Maddie**

Mesprit, unfortunately, chose exactly the wrong time to show up.

See, I was spending the day at my friend Chii's house, since it was a Saturday and for once I didn't have Academic Team practice at school. It wouldn't have been a problem, though, if Mesprit hadn't appeared just as Chii opened her bedroom door and stepped inside.

"AAAAAUUUGGGHHH!" she screamed.

Luckily her parents weren't home, but her brother was in his room upstairs. I doubted he could hear us over the music blasting through his iPod earbuds, but I wasn't taking any chances; I covered Chii's mouth with one hand and quickly closed the door with the other.

"What the heck, Mesprit? What is it?" I snapped, turning to the Spirit Pokémon. "This better be important."

Chii shoved my hand away. "You _know_ this thing?" she asked, astonished.

"Of course she does," said Mesprit with a friendly smile. "We're partners in spirit."

Chii stared at it blankly. "Huh?"

"It said we're partners in spirit," I repeated. "Whatever that means, but it sounds true enough."

"Um, no offense or anything," Chii said to Mesprit, "but I can't understand a word you say. All I'm getting is, well, 'Meee meesprit mees' or something."

Mesprit's eyes flashed briefly, and it said, "How about now?"

Chii's face lit up. "Awesome!" She seemed to be adjusting pretty well to the fact that this strange creature had just magically appeared in her room. In her place, I'd have been screaming my head off, probably.

"All right then, back to business," Mesprit said crisply, fixing its bright yellow gaze on me. "Maddie, I have come to inform you that we are all in deep... ah... how would you humans put it? Deep doo-doo." She quickly explained about the space-time rip. "The only possible way to fix the rip is to use the Matter Orbs in conjunction with Dialga and Palkia's powers. We urgently need your help to find our way around Earth," it finished. "So I ask, will you do this?"

I sighed deeply. Ever since Tiger, Adrienne, and I had turned into the three spirits for the first time, it seemed as if no one would cut us any slack when it came to saving the universe. "Of course," I said. "What else could I say? Let's boogie."

Chii groaned at my corniness, reminding me she was here.

"This is Katie, by the way," I told Mesprit. "Her friends all call her Chii, though. You can too, if you want."

"Chii," said Mesprit, toying with the word. "Chiiiiiiiii. How fun! Well, Chii, it has been a pleasure to meet you. But Maddie and I must take our leave. I'm sure you understand."

"What? You're going to leave me out of this?" Chii threw her arms upward. "Not likely! I wouldn't miss an adventure like this for... for..."

"The world?" I suggested, nose wrinkling in amusement at her enthusiasm.

"Yes! Exactly! The world!" she agreed, a huge grin spreading across her face.

And so a fourth, somewhat hyperactive human was added to our team of not-exactly-superheroes.

* * *

**Chii**

We met up with the others in a dark alley behind our school, Frank J. Eibod. I immediately spotted Tiger and Adrienne, as well as two little creatures who looked kind of like Mesprit—the other Spirit Pokémon, Uxie and Azelf, as Maddie told me. Of course, I knew what Pokémon were, but I'd never suspected they actually existed. This was awesomer than awesome!

The other Pokémon soon appeared in a flash of brilliant light. Maddie told me their names: Dialga, Darkrai, Cresselia, Luvdisc, Heatran, Celebi, and Giratina. They seemed to come in practically every shape and size and color.

The big, blue, dinosaur-like one called Dialga spoke first. "We have decided to split into two teams. The first, Team Diamond, will consist of myself, Celebi, Heatran, Tiger, and Maddie."

"Hey, I want to be on the same team as Darkrai!" Maddie protested.

"And I want to be on Maddie's team," I piped up, unable to contain myself.

Dialga shot us both looks. "Very well," it said in a tone of mild disgust. "Instead of Maddie, Adrienne will be the final member of Team Diamond."

Palkia, the pink two-legged dragon thing, spoke next. "In that case, Team Pearl will consist of myself, Darkrai, Cresselia, Maddie, and, I suppose, Chii."

"You suppose?" I muttered, but Giratina spoke up before I could complain.

"I have been thinking," he said, "that there should be a third team, Team Platinum, to stay behind and keep watch on the space-time tear. For this team, I nominate myself, this worthy Luvdisc, and the three Spirit Pokémon."

Dialga and Palkia nodded. "That is a good idea," said Palkia, "in case the rip becomes unstable and we should speed our progress."

"Sounds _boring_, you mean," I whispered to Maddie. She snickered in agreement.

"So, are we all prepared?" asked Celebi.

We nodded, suddenly solemn.

"Then let us be on our way," Dialga thundered. "We have no time to waste—and believe me, I should know!"


	3. It's a Jungle Out There

**Maddie  
**I normally would've been thrilled to be on the same team as Darkrai. There was just one problem, though. The old Darkrai had been given permission by Arceus to sort of "share" New Darkrai's body, like a ghost possession, only much more annoying. Because, see, apparently those two just couldn't agree on _anything_.

As Palkia carried us through the stratosphere toward our first destination, Spirit-Darkrai and New Darkrai (or Newrai, as I had begun to think of him) never, for one single second, stopped bickering. I kid you not. The entire time, while every other member of Team Pearl was being nice and considerate and friendly, _they_ were going on like this:

"We should destroy everything that gets in our way. That way we'll find the Lustrous Orb shards much more quickly."

"_Don't be an idiot, Newborn. How will adding to the destruction of the universe solve anything? We must leave the place as untouched as when we arrived."_

"Ugh! How many times have I told you _not to call me Newborn_!"

"_Not half as many times as you've deserved it, Slowpoke-brain."_

"GAAAAHHH! I hate that too!! Stop it or—"

"_Or what? You'll tell Arceus on me, just like the whiny newborn you are? Newborn! Newborn! Newborn!"_

I was about one second away from strangling them both with my bare hands. (Well, strangling Newrai, anyway.)

"Tell me again why we brought both of them along," I muttered to Cresselia, who was firmly latched on Palkia's neck.

"Because Darkrai are experts at finding their way through areas with little light to see by, and two Darkrai are supposedly better than one," she said, not sounding too hyped up about it herself. "We cannot stop our search due to nightfall, unlike Team Diamond, who are able to traverse time."

"What? Then why didn't we bring Celebi instead?"

"Traveling back through time becomes more difficult the further you try to go," Cresselia explained. "Celebi's power, when added to Dialga's, should make it much easier for them."

"Pshh. It better," I grunted.

"What're you complaining for?" Chii asked with a giggle-snort. "I think it's hilarious. They're like a couple of five-year-olds."

Hearing this last remark, Spirit-Darkrai said, _"Except instead of a five-year-old, he's just a..."_

"Say 'newborn' one more time, just one more time, and I'll... I'll exorcise you from my body somehow, and I don't give a flying Fearow what Arceus thinks!"

"Oh, will you both just shut up?" Palkia snapped over its shoulder. "We've nearly reached our destination, and if your mouths aren't firmly closed by the time I start my descent, I'm shaking you off my tail like a pair of fleas on a Mightyena!"

* * *

We landed in a clearing surrounded by tall trees that grew so close together they blotted out the sunlight. Some looked kind of like the trees back home; others were thick with strange bright flowers or had broad, waxy leaves. I could hear a river gurgling not too far away, but I couldn't see it through the mottled darkness of the forest floor.

"It's so humid," Newrai complained almost immediately after dismounting Palkia. "I can't see why anything would want to live here."

"Yuck. No kidding!" said Chii, wiping her already sweaty forehead with one wrist.

"Speaking of 'here,' " Cresselia said, "where are we?"

The river's gurgle filled the silence that followed.

"Well," I said, "this looks like some kind of jungle. They're supposed to be humid like this, anyway." The plants resembled ones from a picture I'd seen in a biology textbook, but I couldn't remember where they came from.

"Jungles are stupid," said Newrai. "Why does it have to be so hot? I hear a river; anyone who wants water can follow me."

"_Oh yes,"_ said Spirit-Darkrai, _"already wasting our time. Why am I not surprised? Oh, right, it's because you're an idiot! It all makes sense now."_

We all followed the Darkrai through the trees, but it wasn't easy since the ground was covered in vines and roots that seemed determined to trip us. Palkia was the most frustrated out of all of us, though; it kept having to push trees apart as it stomped through the undergrowth, and it stepped in several mud puddles, grumbling irritably as brown goop sprayed up its leg.

And of course, there were bugs, huge clouds of them that flew in our faces and pretty much tried to eat us alive.

"Earth is stupid," Newrai grumbled. "Stupid plants, stupid bugs, stupid climate."

"There it is," Palkia panted. "The river. It's just past those trees." It pointed.

Newrai perked up immediately. "Finally!" He took off through the jungle, and we dashed after him.

"This is going to feel so good," Newrai said, and without further ado, plunged himself into the flowing water. "And it does!" he crowed, splashing around like—dare I say it?—a newborn.

Suddenly, I remembered why those plants back in the clearing had seemed so familiar.

"Um, Newr—I mean, Darkrai?" I called out. "I really wouldn't stay in there if I were you."

"And why not?" Newrai snorted, as if nothing on Earth could possibly pose a threat to him. His tone was so superior that I wanted to throw mud right in his stupid face.

"_New Darkrai, this is Earth, not our world. If Maddie thinks the water could be dangerous then I'm certain she knows what she's talking about,"_ said Spirit-Darkrai in an equally haughty tone.

"Never mind," Palkia said. "Perhaps it would be better for New Darkrai to learn his lesson the hard way for once."

"Oh, don't be a Slowpoke-brain, Palkia," Newrai said scornfully. "What Earth creature could possibly EEEEEYYYYYYAAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGGHHHH!"

The Darkrai burst from the water like a living torpedo, holding his butt with an expression of pure agony contorting his face. Several small fish leaped out after him, their small but needle-sharp teeth glinting in the dim light and confirming my suspicions.

"Piranha," I said, unable to hold back a snort of laughter. "New Darkrai, you just got served by the terror of the Amazon."

"Piranha?" Cresselia asked, clearly astonished that such a small fish could be so dangerous.

"It's like the Pokémon Carvanha, only these don't evolve into Sharpedo and can strip a cow to bones in seconds," said Chii. "Dude, that's crazy, though! Hee hee! I can't believe Darkrai got his butt kicked by a bunch of fish!"

"Got his butt _bitten_, you mean," I said.

"Very funny. Oh yes, hilarious," Newrai said. "In fact, I'm so caught up in your pure comedic genius that I can't be bothered to show you what I found after those swimming demons stirred up the water." He raised a closed fist, waving it around tauntingly. I caught a glimpse of something pale pink gleaming between his black fingers.

"Show us or I will be inclined to plant my foot on your overinflated skull," Palkia said in a way that made it clear it was being perfectly serious.

"All right, all right," Newrai said, unsuccessfully trying to hide the fact that he was completely cowed. "I've been subjected to quite enough physical violence for one day." He held out his open fist, where a shard of the Lustrous Orb shone pearly pink.

"One piece down, a million more to go," Chii said. "This is fun!"

"Oh, yes, there's nothing I'd rather do with my day than have half my backside chomped off by a school of murderous fish," Newrai said snidely.

"_What a whiner you are,"_ Spirit-Darkrai commented. _"It's only a few puncture wounds, nothing a good blob of mud and spit can't fix."_

"If we're quite finished discussing... lower body injuries," Palkia put in, "then I suggest we begin heading to our next destination."

"But—" Newrai protested.

"And I don't want to hear another word about butts!"

**Luvdisc  
**Team Platinum might not have been as exciting as Teams Diamond or Pearl, but in a way, our job was the most important out of everyone's.

At least, that's what I tried to tell myself.

"_Giratina,"_ I said, _"I feel as useless as ever. I wish I had joined one of the other teams__—not that I don't like ours,"_ I added quickly, _"but at least I would be helping them find the Matter Orb shards."_

Along with Giratina and the three Spirits, I floated invisibly high above the human school. Up here was where the space-time rip still festered, but it would only reveal itself to the most discerning of eyes. It was relatively easy to spot once you knew what to look for, though. When a cloud passed near it, which was often, pieces of its fluffy whiteness would pull off and disappear into the rip's invisible vortex. Sometimes an unfortunate bird would be sucked in as well. I always felt a twinge of empathy when that happened. After all, I was all too familiar with death.

Giratina never took his eyes off the rip. (At least, that's what he told me; obviously, since we were invisible, I couldn't see this for myself.) "The rip has to be watched by many sets of eyes," he replied simply. "From every angle. These space-time tears are something no one has ever completely understood." I felt him shudder. "Even Arceus itself."

"Not even Arceus," I thought, giving a shudder of my own. That was always a deeply unsettling thought.

If the other teams' missions did not succeed, not even the Original One itself would be able to hold back the looming destruction.


End file.
